‘Office’ CFO on parade

To paraphrase Michael Corleone’s famous words in “Godfather III,” Andy Buckley tried to get out of the acting business, but “The Office” pulled him back in.
For five years, Mr. Buckley had been building a successful second career as a financial adviser. Then, one day, producers of the Scranton-set NBC sitcom came calling with a role that wouldn’t be all that much of a stretch — Dunder Mifflin CFO David Wallace.
And, with that, a nifty little side venture began for Mr. Buckley, who on Saturday will be in downtown Scranton as part of the Times-Shamrock float contingent at the 47th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. There, he’ll be vying for attention with Sen. Hillary Clinton and other possible high-profile marchers.
This will be Mr. Buckley’s second visit to the Electric City in the past five months. In October, he was one of 13 “Office” cast members to participate in the first “The Office” Convention.
“It was a blast,” said Mr. Buckley during a recent phone conversation from his Los Angeles office.
At the convention, Times-Shamrock Communications director of community newspapers Tim Holmes told Mr. Buckley he might be asked back for the parade. Sure enough, Mr. Buckley got the call a couple of months ago, and gladly accepted the invitation.
After all, he said, “I have friends in Scranton now.”
“I just assume, like last time, I’ll just be saying hello to everyone I come across. I do what they tell me,” said Mr. Buckley, whose aunt knew Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty when both were students at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
Mr. Buckley’s path to “The Office” was a most unusual one.
Upon graduating from Stanford University, he embarked on an acting career in New York, then Los Angeles, where, for about a decade, he was the quintessential “journeyman actor.” Often he could be found turning up in guest-starring roles on sitcoms like “Caroline in the City” and “The Single Guy” and hour-long dramas like “CSI.”
“I was the guest lawyer of the week, or the guest criminal of the week,” joked Mr. Buckley, a jovial sort with a self-deprecating wit.
“I pretty much got out of it the day I decided I was going to do it,” he said with a laugh.
By 2001, the roles were becoming harder to come by and Mr. Buckley had grown tired of the grind. So, on advice from friends, he entered the corporate world. At the moment, he runs a small investment group at one of the country’s biggest financial companies, the name of which he isn’t allowed to divulge.
“I’ve built up a pretty good client base,” he said.
Acting was about the furthest thing from Mr. Buckley’s mind in the winter of 2006, when his neighbor, “Office” casting director Allison Jones, approached him about auditioning for a small part on the show that she thought he might be right for.
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A fan of the show, Mr. Buckley decided to give it a whirl, and in the show’s February 2006 Valentine’s Day episode, he made his debut as David Wallace, Dunder Mifflin’s straight-laced head honcho.
A year went by before Mr. Buckley was asked to reprise the role in the episode “Cocktails,” which took place at Wallace’s home. Since then, he’s been in four more episodes, most notably last season’s finale, “The Job,” in which his character interviewed Michael Scott, Jim Halpert and Karen Filippelli for a position at Dunder Mifflin’s New York headquarters.
With the Writers Guild of America strike now over, “The Office” is set to return with six new episodes starting April 10. The cast went back to work last week, and Mr. Buckley expects to be called in for at least one of the remaining episodes. His scenes usually only require a day or two of work, and on a few occasions he’s worked the first half the day at his office, then the other half on the “Office” set.
“It’s just so fun,” he said of his time on “The Office.” “You get (to work with) some of the funniest people in the world.”
Though he’s not planning to go back to full-time acting anytime soon, Mr. Buckley is enjoying his newfound notoriety. Every so often, someone will approach Mr. Buckley — who, unlike his character, doesn’t wear glasses — hesitate for a second, then say, “Wait a second, are you on ‘The Office?’”
“The whole thing is just a fluke, and it’s just been great,” Mr. Buckley said. “I’m a guy in an office all day. I’ll enjoy the limelight for the time.”
Contact the writer: jmcauliffe@timesshamrock.com

If you go
What: 47th annual St. Patrick's Parade
Where: Downtown Scranton
When: Saturday, with the annual Brian P. Kelly Memorial Race starting at 11 a.m., and the parade stepping off at 11:45 a.m. in front of St. Peter's Cathedral on Wyoming Avenue.
Details: The parade features more than 9,200 participants, including floats, bagpipe players, high school bands and Irish groups. Special guests will include Sen. Hillary Clinton and Andy Buckley, who plays David Wallace on NBC's "The Office." Mr. Buckley will be part of the Times-Shamrock float contingent. For more on the parade, visit www.stpatparade.com.